Small solar installers, system ownership biggest winners in down residential solar market

GTM Research keeps the books on the solar market place. According to its U.S. Residential Solar Update 2017, the second half of 2016 showed the first big decline for the U.S. residential solar market. That looks like a negative, and for the largest installation companies out there, it is, but the report notes how smaller, local installers have continued to grow.

At the same time, the market continued its shift toward ownership away from leasing. Those two trends go hand in hand. GTM says Q4 2016 was the first time since 2011 that the customer-owned share of the market was greater than 50 percent.